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Nina 🐙 Byzantina

@NinaByzantina

Feb 17

73-year-old (!!) Fyodor Konyukhov, a famous Russian 🇷🇺adventurer and Orthodox priest ☦️well-known for his feats, successfully carried out a historic journey rowing a small boat through the South Atlantic by himself. The journey took 68 days, rowing up to 15 hours a day. The conditions were extremely harsh: strong winds and high waves. His journey is planned to continue for several thousand additional miles.

In 2022, Konyukhov was the first to complete a solo row across the Southern Ocean. In 2016, he attained the round-the-world ballooning record. Konyukhov had also reached the most extreme points of the planet (North and South Poles) several times and climbed the highest mountain peaks.

Konyukhov posts updates about his adventures on his Telegram channel: t.me/konyukhovfedor/

I spent a few minutes reading Konyukhov’s Telegram channel updated by his team, and it feels like reading updates from the front lines! He’s in the Indian Ocean now. (Photo is from Feb. 6)

Fyodor Konyukhov has been working on becoming the first person to carry out a solo trip around the world in a rowboat in the Southern Hemisphere. The trip is split into different stages.

Konyukhov successfully completed the initial stage across the South Pacific Ocean five years ago. (December 6, 2018 – May 9, 2019) traveling from New Zealand to Cape Horn. It took 154 days using the AKROS boat he is currently using. The boat was custom-made by a UK company, Rannoch Adventure.

He is currently working on the second part of the journey, which began on December 5, 2024, in the Drake Passage (between South America's Cape Horn, Chile, Argentina, and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica). He is moving eastward toward Australia.

Konyukhov's objective is to cross two oceans in a single season: the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. He is using the same boat with minor modifications. The trip mentioned in the initial post of this threat has already been successfully completed, setting a world record.

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Nina 🐙 Byzantina

@NinaByzantina

Dec 4, 2024

WILD! About ONE THIRD of those detained at protests in Tbilisi 🇬🇪 are foreigners, according to Georgian Dream’s executive secretary Mamuka Mdinaradze. Can the protest orchestrators make their intentions any more obvious?

On the other hand, Georgia is lucky to have lost its most extreme people as “volunteers” in the war in Ukraine, so these protests could’ve been worse.

Source: RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus ekhokavkaza.com/a/33225557.html

If the Georgian government detained some Russian citizens at the protests, then they’re the pathetic virtue signalers that left Russia after the 2022 escalation and moved to Georgia (and other places like Israel and even Serbia) because of its perceived EU path and its perceived anti-Russianness. Exactly the kind of Liberal trash that took itself out of Russia and would support a Maidan scenario. But nice try twisting things.

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Nina 🐙 Byzantina

@NinaByzantina

Aug 24, 2024

Pavel Durov is learning the hard way that he would’ve been better off in Russia.

Other than the incessant financial scam spam, Telegram is indeed the most enjoyable and the freest. So this EU per/prosecution over narrative control is unsurprising. We know where you all get your Ukraine news from.

https://twitter.com/tuckercarlson/status/1827460234887008277

Weird how the “rules-based order” is always pearl-clutching over Russian freedoms, but then arrests a social media owner who does just that.

https://twitter.com/tuckercarlson/status/1827460234887008277

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Nina 🐙 Byzantina

@NinaByzantina

May 8, 2024

Motherland Calls, one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable Soviet monuments, stands in Volgograd commemorating the WWII Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest battles of all time. But did you know that its sculptor, Yevgeny Vuchetich, used multiple models to create this personification?

The monument was made between 1959 and 1967 and is 85 meters, or 279 feet tall, including the sword. This makes it one of the tallest statues in the world. This work of art was recently restored (completed in 2020). Despite its immediate connection to Stalingrad, Motherland Calls may be interpreted as a general allegory of a Mother(land) calling her sons to defend their country.

Considering the scope and scale of the project, Vuchetich used several models for the face and body of the statue. The author may have been inspired by the ancient Greek Nike of Samothrace—because of its dynamic movement—along with other famous paintings and sculptures featuring similar themes.

In terms of the actual models, Soviet athlete Nina Dumbadze, is believed to be one of the key inspirations for the body of Motherland Calls. Like the Greek Nike, this Georgian track-and-fielder was fit and powerful. Next was Valentina Izotova, a waitress, who served as a model for Vuchetich literally (because of her chiseled facial features) and figuratively, as a symbol of an ideal Soviet woman. It took a long time to convince Izotova to pose. Izotova stated in later interviews that initially she did not believe that an army wife should be a model for a sculptor.

It is also important to note that monumental sculptures typically feature anatomical adjustments to their faces because they are meant to be viewed from below. So their close-ups look exaggerated.

Allegedly, the sculptor also relied on several other models including the gymnast Yekaterina Grebneva and Anastasia Peshkova who later posed for other artists. The latter suggested that the sculptor initially wanted to depict the Motherland personification holding a flag rather than a sword.

Be that as it may, Motherland Calls is a collective image both apparently inspired by many famous historical works of art and based on several real women. What they all have in common is their power, athletic beauty, and dynamism like the Greek Nike—an appropriate way to depict such an important patriotic symbol.

For reference, Nike of Samothrace.

Vuchetich, the creator of Motherland Calls and an award-winning Soviet monumentalist sculptor, was part-Serbian and was actually born in Dnepropetrovsk (Yekaterinoslav), present-day Ukraine. But I guess the current Kiev government would rather ignore such great men in favor of sketchy Banderites.

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Nina 🐙 Byzantina

@NinaByzantina

Jul 11, 2023

Regarding Erdogan, and the "Putin betrayal" (sic) with his Azovite release:

Erdogan has been sitting on the fence since the Ukraine war escalation in 2022. So exploiting the situation in ways that he perceives to benefit Turkey is nothing new. 🧵

First, from the geopolitical/geostrategic standpoint, Turkey and its predecessor states in the region are located in an extremely auspicious position between different regions and cultures with premiere access to the Black Sea--between the proverbial East and West and beyond.

Thus, Erdogan often seems to act in the way that he wants surpassing the 'acceptable' NATO state behavior.

Read 8 tweets

Nina 🐙 Byzantina

@NinaByzantina

Jun 24, 2023

More Questions than Answers:

What we’re seeing with the Prigozhin-led mutiny in Russia is the tip of the iceberg, and much of it makes no logical sense. So it’s unsurprising that there are so many conspiracy theories floating around. Let’s break it down. 🧵

1. It makes no sense to use 25K (even 30-50K) Wagnerites for a full-fledged coup in a large country like Russia especially when its ammo and supplies come from the state itself. Thus, there must be someone big backing Prigozhin.

But so far we’ve only seen public support from 1990s convicted criminals like Khodorkovsky and a lot of oinking and barking from abroad.

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